Pioneer Theatre Company Presents Readings Of ASS By Ellen Simon

Pioneer Theatre Company continues its 2017-2018 Play-by-Play new play reading series with ASS by Ellen Simon. The staged readings will take place at the Dumke Auditorium of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) on Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21, 2018.

Is genius a good enough excuse for bad behavior? When a brilliant sculptor in failing health is forced to deal with his son and his ninth wife, he confronts his own mortality and the claims of family versus art in this witty and engaging look at a family behaving badly.

Playwright ELLEN SIMON wrote the screenplays for One Fine Day, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days and Moonlight and Valentino. Her plays have been performed as part of the Duke Broadway Preview series, at Stages Repertory Theatre and at Pasadena Playhouse. She also wrote for the TV series "thirtysomething."

Pioneer Theatre Company Artistic Director Karen Azenberg directs this reading. Azenberg is in her sixth year as Artistic Director. This season she directed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Newsies and the world premiere of "i". In previous seasons she directed Sting's The Last Ship, Alabama Story, The Music Man, A Few Good Men and Chess. Originally from New York, Azenberg's work there includes Lyrics and Lyricists (92nd St. Y), Blocks (a collaboration with Jonathan Larson), Prom Queens Unchained and choreography for Richard Greenberg's The Dazzle (Roundabout).

The cast includes Equity actors DEENA MARIE MANZANARES, ABDUL-KHALIQ "A.K." MURTADHA, William Parry, Zachary Prince and Kalyn West. DEENA MARIE MANZANARES plays Tory and was last seen at PTC in Amadeus and Cyrano de Bergerac. Her most recent credits include White Rabbit Red Rabbit at Kingsbury Hall, Hedda in Hedda Gabler with The Sting & Honey Company and Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire with Radical Hospitality. She can often be seen as a host on the local news and in lifestyle TV.

A.K. MURTADHA plays Ray immediately following his time as Orsino in PTC's Twelfth Night. His other recent credits include The Mountaintop at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, All the Way, The Great Society and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner at Asolo Repertory, and Intimate Apparel and Macbeth at Ensemble Theatre. Some of his TV and film credits include "NCIS: LA," "Raising the Bar," "The Unit," "Medium," "All My Children," "Numb3rs" and the Amazon film 8989 Redstone.

William Parry plays Jule and was most recently seen on the PTC stage in this season's Newsies, as Joseph Pulitzer. He has created roles for 11 original Broadway productions, including Jensen in Groundhog Day. He has appeared in Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George and Passion, both filmed for PBS, as well as in Gypsy with Bernadette Peters, the original Jesus Christ Superstar and others.

Zachary Prince plays Will and was last seen at PTC in The Glass Menagerie as Tom. On Broadway, he has appeared in Honeymoon in Vegas, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever and Baby It's You. His other New York credits include Himself and Nora and The Last Five Years. He played Frankie Valli in the National Tour of Jersey Boys.

Kalyn West plays Ana. New York-based, she is a Utah native. In New York, she has worked off-Broadway in Gigantic, as well as with Adirondack Theatre Festival, New York Music Festival and Alchemy Theater Productions. She most recently worked on the pre-Broadway lab of The Prom, a new musical opening fall 2018.

Pioneer Theatre Company ASS By Ellen Simon, April 20 and April 21, 2018, Friday and Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Saturday matinee, 2:00 p.m. This production will be held in the Dumke Auditorium of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA).
The University of Utah, 410 Campus Center Dr, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 Free parking is available in the lots to the east of UMFA.

Pioneer Theatre Company operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and Actors' Equity Association, the Union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. Pioneer Theatre Company, Utah's only fully professional theatre, performs at Roy W. and Elizabeth E. Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, located on the University of Utah campus at 300 South and 1400 East in Salt Lake City, easily accessible by TRAX light rail. Free parking is also available and the theatre is equipped with an elevator, handicap parking, hearing assistance devices and other easy-access features.